The Void
'' |image= |series= |production=40840-261 |producer(s)= |story= Raf Green and Kenneth Biller |script= Raf Green and James Kahn |director=Mike Vejar |imdbref=tt0708991 |guests=Robin Sachs as Valen, Paul Willson as Loquar, Scott Lawrence as Garon, Jonathan Del Arco as Fantome and Michael Shamus Wiles as Bosaal |previous_production=Prophecy |next_production=Workforce Part 1 |episode=VGR S07E15 |airdate=14 February 2001 |previous_release=Prophecy |next_release=Workforce Part 1 |story_date(s)=54553.4-54562.7 (2377) |previous_story=Prophecy |next_story=Workforce Part 1 }} =Summary= While on course for the Alpha Quadrant, Voyager is suddenly pulled into an area of space absent of any matter, and in which a number of other starships have been trapped. In the chaos of their arrival in this area, Voyager is set on by another ship that disables its shields and transports away its deuterium stock and other supplies before moving away. Captain Janeway orders a counter-attack, but the ship has moved off to warp. They are approached by another ship which hails them. Its captain, General Valen, explains they are in "The Void", and while impressed with Voyager's response to the attack, believes they can help if they were given some of the ship's photon torpedoes. Janeway refuses, unsure of Valen's purpose. Valen departs with his ship. Later, Seven offers a potential way out of the Void by recreating one of the funnels to normal space that brought them there via shield modulation. However, though they nearly escape, they are drawn back in forcefully at the last moment, damaging many of the ship's systems. Janeway asserts they must find the ship that stole their supplies to sustain themselves. Tracking the ship, they find it has been attacked with a complete loss of life, and all of its supplies, including those belonging to Voyager are gone. However, among the ship's casing they find a wounded humanoid creature that they bring back to Voyager for treatment. The crew recognize damage to the ship belonging to Valen's species, and track his ship down. They disable his shields and demand he return their supplies, but Valen refuses. Janeway orders them to recover their supplies and considers taking more, but decides against it. They find they have recovered less than half of that was stolen, and First Officer Chakotay suggests they may have to resort to stealing from other ships to survive, an action Janeway refuses to take. Instead, she offers the idea of creating an alliance with the other ships to pool their resources so they may all escape the Void. Voyager begins contacting the other ships, many who agree to the alliance, and the various crews start sharing their resources and technologies, with Voyager itself gaining several useful upgrades for their journey home should they escape. When Voyager and another alliance ship stop Valen from attacking a recently arrived Hierarchy vessel, Valen reluctantly decides to join this alliance. Meanwhile, the injured humanoid, called Fantome by the crew, has recovered. The being is mute and does not appear to understand their language but picks up on sound and music, and Seven works to create a device to allow primitive communication. The Doctor suspects Fantome and others of its species are native to the Void. When Bosaal, another alliance captain, sees Fantome, he calls the species "vermin", noting that they will somehow occupy ships in the Void. Additional beings like Fantome are found in Voyager and though harmless, Janeway offers to keep them under security to calm Bosaal. However, when Janeway finds that a functioning polaron modulator, needed to escape the Void, installed on Voyager was obtained by an act of piracy by Bosaal, she orders the device removed and forces Bosaal off the ship. Lieutenant Tuvok witnesses Bosaal and Valen discussing creating their own alliance to attack Janeway's alliance. Janeway pushes on B'Elanna Torres and Seven to fashion a new polaron modulator before they can launch this attack. Soon, the alliance's combined technology has completed the necessary modifications to attempt escape. Janeway approaches Fantome to explain they are about to leave. Through the Doctor, Fantome thanks Janeway for her help and offers their help in return. Soon, the alliance fleet is set upon by Valen, Bosaal, and other vessels that aligned with them. Voyager and their alliance are able to disable their shields, and Fantome's people beam aboard these ships, disabling their engines so that they will not trouble the alliance during their escape. The combined shield modulation is successful and all the ships of the alliance escape the Void. After saying their goodbyes, Voyager returns course to home, with Janeway considering their brief time with the alliance like being part of the Federation again. =Errors and Explanations= Nit Central # Ben Cohen on Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 7:41 pm: Tom is baffled that the Vaudwaar beamed away the Deuterium. "You can find it anywhere", he says. well then, why did he, Seven and Naomi come back empty handed when they went searching for some in Bliss? The bioplasmic organisim probably masked all traces in that area. # Is there a reason why Janeway is catching up on the Federation Charter on her desktop computer, which would undoubtedly take up more power than reading it on a padd? The same reason people watch movies and TV shows on a TV instead of a tablet or smartphone – the picture is clearer! # Spockania on Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 8:06 pm: Is it just me, or did Janeway's alliance have three ships and only two captains were seen at the end? Yes – the other members quit after Janeway ordered Bossal to leave Voyager for murdering another crew to obtain a vital piece of equipment. # Shane Tourtellotte on Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 8:21 pm: When we were first introduced to the notorious liola root, it was this noxious foodstuff that nobody except Neelix could stand to have around. Now a cream of liola soup is the first course in a gourmet meal? Hm. I guess all those slanders we've slung around regarding Neelix's cooking were true, and it just took the bare competence of 7 to make the liola root palatable. Or the crew found a way to enjoy it! # When a warp core goes offline, doesn't that mean the glow should go out of a ship's warp nacelles? (We've seen that evidenced before.) It doesn't do so for Voyager. Jwb52z on Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 9:59 pm: Damaged doesn't always mean offline. It merely can mean inoperable enough to work properly. My computer can be on but be malfunctioning enough to not work properly or be useful. # I thought Astrometrics was shut down, but the (whatever previously-seen race they were) were working there without any trouble. And by the way, aren't we well out of that race's space by now? There have been a couple big leaps since that episode. Jwb52z on Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 9:59 pm: Astrometrics was shut down till they were able to get enough power to it. Seven and B'Elanna disagreed on what to use the new energy source for, but evidently they used it for that or got some from the alliance they had built with those few ships. We have no way to know how big of an area "that race" and its space covers. # At the end of the episode, Voyager beams away two members of different crews at once. Were they going to the same ship? I don't think the transporter can split its beam the way this scene suggests. (Ducks in anticipation of Jwb52z.) Jwb52z on Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 9:59 pm: BTW, Shane, yes, from what I understand it is possible because they can just retune the targeting scanners and the coordinates to the transporter with each transporter pattern. It's just never been done before on the show in quite this way.''Seniram 11:38, August 10, 2018 (UTC)''They were likely using different pads or transporter rooms. # The reason they needed that doohickey was so they could expand the shield around all the ships. Couldn’t they have simplified all of this by transferring everyone onto Voyager (at the last moment to discourage attacks, of course) and only taking that ship? Jwb52z on Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 9:59 pm:''That wouldn't have made much sense once they got outside the void. Do you REALLY expect those aliens to stay aboard Voyager? There had to be a few hundred. Voyager can't support that many people, along with their own crew, for long enough to take the aliens where they were supposed to go or take them home. ''PaulG on Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 11:13 am: Jwb52z: I can appreciate the aliens wanting to keep their own ships. But if the choice is between escaping the void or rotting in there until they died in some hideous way, sacrificing the ship is a no-brainer. When it became a race against time, I am surprised that no one even suggested it, even if the idea was eventually rejected. Also, since we have no idea how far these aliens were from home (or the nearest convenient base) and we have seen Voyager support that many passengers before without everyone starving to death (Prophecy), I have trouble accepting your claim that Voyager could not possibly support them all. Considering that Voyager would have the combined supplies of all the ships (including such things as their warp cores and other usually permanent fixtures) and the new efficient food replicator technology, I find it probable that Voyager could sustain them all until they acquired new supplies. BTW, I'm surprised that you would make such an absolute claim considering your dedication to finding even the smallest loopholes to disprove other people’s nits. # Anonymous on Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 11:04 pm: Hey I remember an episode during the first season of Voyager clearly stating how many photon torpeodes they had. Now I've seen them use a couple every now and then and two more today. Anyone one have an idea of about how many torpedoes are left? Brad W. Higgins on Wednesday, February 14, 2001 - 11:18 pm: Considering they're able to build fully functional shuttles with active warp cores, not to mention the Delta Flyer and a completely new astrometrics lab, I don't think making a few extra photon torpedoes every now and then should present much of a problem for our intrepid crew. # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 1:36 am: Why doesn't Janeway & the other ships put up some kind of warning bouys to let other ships know about the dangerous funnels? They would be vulnerable to the graviton surges that dragged ships into the void in the first place!. # The Undesirable Element on Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 2:03 pm: So Deuterium is found ANYWHERE?? Too bad we don't have any here on Earth. (Or is deuterium an actual substance that I don't know about?) Ben Cohen on Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 3:39 pm: I think it actually is a real substance. At least Word Perfect 8 thinks it is (I mispelled it last night and Word Perfect caught my mistake). TomM on Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 4:26 pm: Yes, deuterium is real. It is an isotope of hydrogen with a neutron as well as a proton in the nucleus, making it twice as massive hence it's nickname "heavy hydrogen". (Water with a high concentration of molecules where one or both of the hydrogen atoms is actually deuterium is called "heavy water.") When you use heavy hydrogen instead of "normal" hydrogen in nuclear reactions, both critical mass and containment can be acheived a lot easier. Presumably the same holds true for the matter/antimatter reactions in Voyager's warp core. Category:EpisodesCategory:Voyager